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Unpaid Fines

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were imprisoned because of (a) unpaid fines and (b) uncompleted community orders in each year since 1997. [217110]

Paul Goggins: The number of persons received into prison establishments in default of payment of a fine in each year from 1997 to 2003 is as follows:

	Number
1997	6,336
1998	5,374
1999	3,727
2000	2,476
2001	1,453
2002	1,192
2003	1,250

Information for 2004 is available only to 30 November at present, during which period there were 1,719 receptions of fine defaulters into prison establishments, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system.

The available information on persons imprisoned for uncompleted community orders is for persons ¹ sentenced to immediate custody following breach of a community sentence ² and is as follows:

¹ Includes a person more than once if sentenced to immediate custody for a breach of more than one type of community sentence on the same day.

² Includes probation orders (community rehabilitation orders from April 2001), supervision orders (but not available for 1997–99), community service orders (community punishment orders from April 2001), attendance centre orders, combination orders (community punishment and rehabilitation orders from April 2001), curfew orders, reparation orders (from June 2000), action plan orders (from June 2000) and drug treatment and testing orders (from October 2000). It does not include referral orders (from April 2002).

	Number
1997	7,205
1998	6,401
1999	7,573
2000	8,317
2001	8,094
2002	9,071
2003	9,526

Statistics for persons sentenced in 2004 are due for publication later this year.

Victim Support (Greater London)

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the victim support scheme in the Greater London area. [206184]

Paul Goggins: The Greater London area is not serviced by one individual Victim Support scheme. Victim
 
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Support services are organised by individual London boroughs and the London Crown Court Witness Service is managed by Victim Support's National Office.

The Home Office assesses the effectiveness of individual Victim Support schemes by monitoring the outcomes of area inspections, undertaken by Victim Support's Quality and Standards Department. Several London boroughs and the London Crown Court Witness Service have been reviewed since the new inspection process was introduced in 2003. Victim Support's inspection reports are public documents and can be viewed on their website.

The Home Office also reviews Victim Support's statistical information for the Metropolitan area on an annual basis. In 2003–04 Victim Support schemes and
 
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Witness Services in the Metropolitan area received a total of 236,683 referrals. The community-based services made 249,905 successful contacts and achieved a personal contact rate which exceeded the national average.

Visas

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the request from the Visa Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the clearance of Mr. Abdulazeem Morsy (GV100/102307/DL) to enter the UK. [219387]

Mr. Browne: The information requested was forwarded electronically to the Visa Section of the British Embassy in Khartoum on 1 March 2005.

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